How Did I Fall In Love With You?
by Luna Nueva
Summary: Calleigh and Eric have been like brother and sister for years. What happens when they realize that they've fallen for each other?
1. Sense of Dread

**A/N: I'm usually an HC shipper, but I decided to give Eric and Calleigh a chance. I got my inspiration for the story from the song "How Did I Fall In Love With You" by the Backstreet Boys. Look up the lyrics if you like.**

**Disclaimer: I do own any miniscule part of CSI: Miami… I would love to, but alas, I do not. Nothing here belongs to me, except the plot.**

**Rating: Teen for now… may become more mature as the story progresses.**

_How Did I Fall In Love With You?_

Calleigh sighed as she walked past Eric's lab. _How could this happen, _she asked herself. _How could I fall this hard for someone who's almost family to me? We're supposed to have a platonic relationship. This feeling surpasses that. How could I let it happen?_ She had been denying it for almost two years now, but with each passing day, Calleigh had a harder time suppressing her feelings for her co-worker. She knew that if they ever got together, they would never be left alone. Other co-workers would meddle, and they'd eventually have to break up, so she kept the façade of just being friends. Inside, however, she was falling apart and wanting to be in Eric's arms.

When Calleigh left to go home, Eric was still hard at work on their current case. "Bye Eric," Calleigh left a lingering drawl on the word "bye." "Later, Cal. See you tomorrow." Calleigh held onto the sound of Eric's voice on her way home. She loved the way that while he didn't have an accent for the most part, there was a trace of his mother's accent in his voice. _I still can't believe that I feel this strongly for him. I've always been able to keep myself romantically detached from co-workers…what about him is making it so different?_ Calleigh sighed again as she unlocked her apartment door. She breathed in the soft scent of lavender that filled her home. Immediately, she was ready to take a short bath and go to bed.

The next morning, Calleigh woke up to the sound of her alarm clock. "Obnoxious piece of shit…" She stumbled out of bed and went to her kitchen to make a pot of coffee. Scratching her head like her father used to, she waited for the coffee to brew. Her father… there was a tender subject. While she loved him and loved inheriting some of his habits, she had suffered quite a bit of abuse from him. He never meant to; it was always when he was drunk that he hit her. She knew that it wasn't him hitting her; it was the monster that alcohol awakens that did it. Still, she was afraid of her father. The coffee maker gurgled, indicating that her coffee was ready. "Caffeine…" Calleigh took a big gulp of coffee and started to get ready for her day. She put her long hair into a bun. She had a very strange feeling that they were going to get a new case today, and that this case would include a lot of blood. She rarely got these feelings and hated when she did; they never indicated anything good. Calleigh finished getting ready out of mundane habit. Put this in her purse, take some Advil, put that in her pocket, and clip her badge to the waistband of her bottoms. Everything, just as it was every morning. Calleigh liked the habit. She knew that she wouldn't forget anything if she never changed her morning routine. Calleigh headed out the door and went to work.

Calleigh greeted Claudia in her usual chipper manner. No one ever knew the torment that ran rampant in Calleigh's soul. She always hid behind a wall, a mask. No one had ever known Calleigh to break down, so it wasn't unusual to Claudia to see Calleigh happy and perky. When Calleigh passed Eric, though, Eric questioned if she was ok. _NO! I'm not ok! I like you more than I should, I'm having bad feelings about what may happen today, and I don't want to hide behind this mask anymore!_ "I'm fine, Eric."  
"Are you sure?" Eric looked Calleigh deep in the eyes, but Calleigh's response remained the same. "I'm fine. Really." Eric gave her one last concerned look and nodded. "If you say so. You know you can come to me if you need to talk." Eric walked off toward his lab. "I can't talk to you about this," Calleigh mumbled. "I can't talk to anyone about this."

Calleigh continued onto the Ballistics lab with her feeling of dread becoming worse. By the time she reached the lab, her dread had taken control of her body. Calleigh tried to rationalize it, but to no avail. She was on high alert. She had no idea what was going on, but she was certainly going to find out.

**A/N: The story is a bit scatter-brained, but that's because I'm scatter-brained. Leave me reviews and let me know if you liked it, and if not, how I can improve... apart from the scatter-brained thing. .**


	2. Jumping the Gun

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews! This is the best input that I've gotten on the very first chapter! Now then, on with the writing!**

**Disclaimer: Usual disclaimer. I own nothing except the plot line… which I don't even really own that… seeing as how I got my idea from a song… **

Calleigh opened the door to the ballistics lab, ready to pull her gun at a moment's notice. Cautiously, she stepped into her usual haunt. Nothing seemed out of place at face value, but then again, nothing's as it seems and this is only face value. Looking around, her feeling of doom calmed, but it still lingered; ready to mount if anything happened. Calleigh relaxed slightly, but was still tense. "Calleigh." Calleigh nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of the voice behind her. Turning and drawing her .9 mm, Calleigh aimed at whoever crept up behind her, ready to shoot if it were someone who would seem to want to harm her.

Eric stepped back a couple of paces to give Calleigh space and time to see who she was aiming at. "Whoa, Calleigh. It's just me. No need to shoot me."  
"I'm sorry Eric. I just got the oddest feeling that something was about to happen. Something bad. I don't know. I'm probably just being paranoid."  
"It's cool, Cal. No harm, no foul. Just, put the gun away, ok? You're dangerous with that thing." Calleigh laughed. She felt much more at ease with Eric near. _No Calleigh! Eric can't be your hero! He's just your friend! Handle this yourself, the way you have every other time!  
__What if I need a hero this time?  
__Calleigh Duquesne, you are stronger than anything in Miami. You just want to play the damsel in distress card so that you can win your CO-WORKER. That's against the rules! You know that! He's just your friend!  
__But I want him to be more than that…  
__No, Calleigh. He is your friend, and your friend he will remain. You know what happens when you get emotionally attached.  
__I know, but he may be different.  
__May be. Do you want to take that chance? If you truly do care for him, you'll keep him as a friend, nothing more.  
__Fine._ Calleigh still continued to fight with herself. She knew that it was better having someone there, but her reasonable side was right. She had taken care of herself before, she can do it again. Why risk a perfect friendship for someone who _may be_ different. There was no solid proof that he actually was, so why ruin something good? "Calleigh? Calleigh? Cal. Cal!"  
"Oh wha… sorry. I was just thinking."  
"You're really out of it today. Are you sure you're ok?"  
"Eric Delko. I've told you: I'm fine. Stop worrying so much. Anyways, what did you need?"  
"Horatio wants us to team up on a new case. It's at 1542 Jay Street. Let's go." The dread that Calleigh had been feeling earlier once again slipped it's way into her system. Calleigh felt her adrenaline rising and the hairs on the back of her neck stand. _This can't be good._

Calleigh allowed Eric to help her into the state issued Hummers. She loved how big they were because she felt that if needed, she had enough room to hide from any threat. With the feeling that was running rampant through her, she felt that she may have to use that advantage. When they arrived on scene, everything looked normal. Nice neighborhood, clean yard, nice house. Everything had a certain cozy feel to it. When they got inside the house, everything still seemed normal. "That's odd."  
"What?"  
"It seems that there's nothing wrong here. There should be blood, or a body, or _something_. But there's nothing." A cold shiver ran down Calleigh's spine. They had to get out, or something bad was going to happen: to them.

**A/N: Sorry this chapter is so short. It's 1:30 am, so my brain isn't fully functional anymore. I'll try to write more later today after I wake up. Read and Review!**


	3. Sixth Sense Senseless

**A/N: Sorry that this has taken me so long to write. I've been so busy with overcoming depression, and then being on band schedule, that this is the first chance that I've gotten in quite a while to write! I hope that you like it!**

"Eric, we need to get out of here."

"Why?"

"Something isn't right, and I've got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. We need to leave. NOW." As Calleigh finished her sentence, a gunshot rang through the house. Calleigh and Eric both fell to the ground. Calleigh was expecting pain to rack her body, but the only feeling that she experienced was fear. _Oh no, they hit Eric._ Calleigh turned to where she could see Eric, but he was just fine. There was no blood flowing from any part of his body. He wasn't screaming out in pain or even wincing. _Maybe it was just a blank?_ Another gunshot rang through the house. _Or worse… it's a murder/suicide._ After the second gunshot, the house fell silent. Neither Calleigh nor Eric spoke a word. Eric was the first to stand. As he helped Calleigh to her feet, another chill ran through her spine. _Stop! Nothing bad is going to happen! It should have happened by now!_ Was her sixth sense going haywire? She could usually rely on it to help her steer clear of danger, but today, it was off. Nothing bad had happened to her like she had felt that it would. "Calleigh, are you ok?"

"I… I… I don't know…"

"C'mon, Calleigh. Let's get out of here. We'll let Wolfe and Horatio take care of this one. You're too shaken up."

"No. I'm working this. We were put on this case, so we're going to work it. That simple." Eric knew that there was more to it, so he reluctantly agreed. "I'm going upstairs first."

"No you're not."

"Calleigh, I don't even feel that we should stay on this case, but I'm going to because I can tell that there's something here that you need to be a part of, so at least let me lead the way up. If anyone is going to get hurt, then it's going to be me." Calleigh froze. _That's it! No wonder I've been feeling so weird! I'm getting a read from Eric! If he goes in front of me, then he could be killed!_ "How about this," Calleigh asked sweetly, "we go up at the same time. The stairs are wide enough for two people to walk side by side." Eric wasn't sure where Calleigh was going with that, but it was better than her going up and quite possibly being the first and easy target. "Ok."

As Calleigh and Eric made their way up the stairs side by side, the feeling of impending doom grew in Calleigh. It took everything she had to keep herself from noticeably shaking. When they got to the landing, the feeling that she had disappeared entirely, but Calleigh refused to put her guard down. _Just because the feeling's gone doesn't mean that the danger is. Unless…_ Calleigh went down a couple of steps and the feeling returned. She looked around and took in everything that she could see. Then she went back up onto the landing. Looking around again, Calleigh noticed that one of the bedrooms was not visible anymore. _That's it! We were in danger downstairs because that's where we could be seen, but now, we're out of the person's line of sight… could Eric and I sneak over there and catch a wanna-be murderer?_ Calleigh pulled Eric back a few feet and told him about what she thought. "Downstairs, I could not shake this feeling that we were in danger, but as soon as we hit this landing, the feeling disappeared. There's a bedroom that can see over the entire house… EXCEPT for this area. This is the blind-spot of that room. Maybe we can slip over there and see what's going on in there."

"Sure. I don't see the harm in that, but just in case, _I'm_ leading." Eric took Calleigh's hand (which sent a wave of pure bliss though her) and they headed toward the bedroom. As they reached the door-jam, they heard someone breathing softly.

**A/N: This is where I'm going to stop. I'm going out tonight and I feel that my current writing is crap. Yep. Crap. Read and Review! I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can, but not before Jodie reviews.**


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